Jeremiah 17:4

17:1-4 The sins which men commit make little impression on their minds, yet every sin is marked in the book of God; they are all so graven upon the table of the heart, that they will all be remembered by the conscience. That which is graven in the heart will become plain in the life; men's actions show the desires and purposes of their hearts. What need we have to humble ourselves before God, who are so vile in his sight! How should we depend on his mercy and grace, begging of God to search and prove us; not to suffer us to be deceived by our own hearts, but to create in us a clean and holy nature by his Spirit!

And thou, even thyself,.... Or, "thou, and in thee" (l); that is, thou and those that are in thee, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea; or, "thou even through thyself" (m); through thine own fault, by reason of thy sins and iniquities: shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; be removed from it, and no longer enjoy it: or, "shalt intermit from thine heritage" (n); shall not till the land, plough and sow, and reap, and gather the fruits of it: this was enjoined on every seventh year, when the land was to have its rest, or sabbath, Exodus 23:10, but this law they did not observe; and now, therefore, whether they would or not, the land should be intermitted, and not tilled and enjoyed by them. The Targum takes in the whole of the sense, "and I will bring an enemy upon your land; and it shall be desolate as in the year of intermission: and I will take vengeance of judgment upon you, until I remove you from your inheritance which I have given unto you;'' the land of Canaan, which was given them for an inheritance: I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not; the Babylonians in Chaldea; or, as Jerom thinks; the Romans.

Of the different reading of these words; see Gill on Jeremiah 15:13, for ye have I kindled a fire in mine anger; or by their sins had caused the anger of the Lord to burn like fire: which shall burn for ever; as it will in hell, and therefore called everlasting fire: here it only means until these people and their country were consumed by the enemy; perhaps some reference is had to the burning of the city and temple by the Babylonians, or Romans, or both. These first four verses are left out by the Septuagint interpreters, Jerom thinks, to spare their own people. (l) "qui sunt apud te", Junius & Tremellius. (m) "Per te", Piscator. (n) "ita intermissionen facies", Junius & Tremellius; so Schmidt.

4 . and thou, even of thyself, shalt discontinue ] i.e. shalt cease to retain a hold upon thy country. We should rather read, and thou shalt let thine hand fall , adopting J. D. Michaelis’s emendation, suggested by Deuteronomy 15:3 , where the same Hebrew verb in immediate connexion with “thy hand” is used to indicate the cancelling of a debt. Du. and Co. needlessly reject this part of the v ., for metrical reasons and as prosaic in expression. I will cause thee to serve thine enemies ] So in all probability we should read in Jeremiah 15:14 , according to the second of the alternative margins there.

Verse 4. - (Comp. Jeremiah 15:14 .) Even thyself ; literally, even with thyself , i.e. with thy bare life (if the text, which is here evidently rather out of order, is correct). Shalt discontinue . The word involves an allusion to the Law in Exodus 23:11 and (especially) Deuteronomy 15:2 (see the Hebrew). The latter passage suggests a correction of the difficult "even with thyself," just preceding, into "thy hand." Thus we get for the opening of this verse, "And thou shalt let loose thy hand" (i.e. as Authorized Version, "shalt discontinue"). Jeremiah 17:4

And thou, even {f} thyself, shall discontinue from thy heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thy enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in my anger, which shall burn for ever. (f) Because you would not give the land rest, at such times, days and years as I appointed, you will after this be carried away and it will rest for lack of labourers.

(4) Thou, even thyself. —Literally, in or by thyself, an emphatic form for expressing loneliness and abandonment. Shalt discontinue . . .—The word was a half-technical one, used to describe the act of leaving lands untilled and releasing creditors in the sabbatical year (Exodus 23:11; Deuteronomy 15:2). The land would have its rest now, would “enjoy its Sabbaths” (Leviticus 26:34; 2Chronicles 36:21), though Judah had failed in obedience to the Law which prescribed them. For the rest of the verse, see Note on Jeremiah 15:14.

The verb rendered "discontinue" is that used of letting the land rest Exodus 23:11 , and of releasing creditors Deuteronomy 15:2 in the sabbatical year. As Judah had not kept these sabbatical years she must now discontinue the tillage of God's inheritance until the land had had its rest. "Even thyself may mean and that through thyself," through thine own fault.

In the word discontinue there is a secret promise that they should again come and possess and inherit their land; they should not lose their inheritance, but only discontinue their possession and occupation of it. Some learned authors considering that the same word is here used which is used Exodus 23:11 , in the law concerning the sabbatical rest , when they were to let the land rest, and lie still, Leviticus 26:34 , think this text hath a reference to that, and the meaning is, Thou shalt discontinue thy ploughing and tilling the land; and go into thine enemies’ country, and serve them in a land of which thou hast no knowledge; because by thine idolatry and other sins thou hast increased my wrath into such a fire, as shall burn for a long time, for so the word for ever is oft taken, Exodus 21:6 Deu 15:17 Psalm 89:1 Isaiah 34:10 .

And thou shalt discontinue from thine inheritance. There is in שׁמטתּה an allusion to the law in Exodus 23:11 , to let the ground lie untilled in the seventh year, and in Deuteronomy 15:2 , to let loans go, not to exact from one's neighbour what has been lent to him. Because Judah has transgressed this law, the Lord will compel the people to let go their hold of their inheritance, i.e., He will cast them out of it. וּבך seems strange, interposed between the verb and the "from thine inheritance" dependent on it. The later Greek translators (for the entire passage Jeremiah 17:1-4 is wanting in the lxx) render it μόνη, and Jerome sola. Ew. therefore conjectures לבדד, but without due reason, since the translation is only a free rendering of: and that by thyself. J. D. Mich., Gr., and Ng. propose to read ידך, on the ground of the connection wrongly made between שׁמט and ידו, to let go his hand, Deuteronomy 15:2 , given in Ges. Lex. s.v. For ידו in this case is not object to שׁמט, but belongs to משׁה, hand-lending; and in Deuteronomy 15:3 ידך is subject to תּשׁמט, the hand shall quit hold. וּבך sig. and that by thee, i.e., by thine own fault; cf. Ezekiel 22:16 . Meaning: by thine own fault thou must needs leave behind thee thine inheritance, thy land, and serve thine enemies in a foreign land. On the last clause, "for a fire," etc., cf. Jeremiah 15:14 , where is also discussed the relation of the present Jeremiah 17:3 and Jeremiah 17:4 to Jeremiah 15:13-14 .